In the weeks before the gathering, members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) publicly discussed their worries that the current monetary framework might leave the Fed unable to deal adequately with future slowdowns. They got our hopes up: enough that we published a leader giving the Fed some suggestions for new approaches. But as Mr Summers says, the Fed let us all down.

…Fed members have not only decided not to set a new target. They also remain steadfast in their determination to undershoot the target they’ve already got. As they have for months, the Fed’s hawks continue to note the strength of the labour market and dismiss low inflation as the transitory product of low energy prices and a strong dollar. Yet too-low inflation looks like a chronic affliction…

…This is crazy. Having undershot its 2% target for so long, the Fed could argue that a bit of overshooting is justified so that it hits its target on average, across the whole of the business cycle. It could argue that overshooting is justified as a way to nudge inflation expectations back up. It could argue that, having failed to reach its target for more than four years now, caution demands it hold off on rate increases until inflation is unmistakably on track to reach 2%. But no! Absurdly, the Fed is preparing to raise rates while inflation is both below target and decelerating…